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ED Veteran Joins FHC as Full-Time Wound Care Physician

| Date Posted: 8/7/2013

Jeffrey R. Gibbons, M.D.

ROCKINGHAM – For the past four-plus years, Jeffrey R. Gibbons, M.D., has spent one day a week working in the Wound Care & Hyperbaric Center at FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital in addition to his regular duties as a FirstHealth emergency department physician.

The wound care work gave him the chance to broaden the scope of his patient care experience while developing closer relationships with his patients than he could with the relatively quick in-and-out exposures of emergency department care.

This month, Dr. Gibbons changed his professional focus by becoming a full-time wound care physician with FirstHealth. With his new position, he spends two days a week – Thursday and Friday – in the Wound Care & Hyperbaric Center at FirstHealth Richmond Memorial Hospital.

“We are excited about having a physician dedicated to full-time wound care with our program,” says Richmond Memorial President John Jackson. “Dr. Gibbons is an excellent physician with a proven talent for this unique specialty. We believe the two days he will spend at Richmond Memorial each week will broaden the scope of our care while allowing us to accept more patients in a location that is available to them without the need for out-of-town travel.”

While many wounds are superficial and require only cleaning and dressing, some are deeper and need medical attention to prevent infection, loss of function or even amputation due to damage to bone, muscle, tendon, arteries and nerves. Many are related to chronic disease or traumatic injury.

The purpose of medical care for wounds is to prevent complications and preserve function. The specialized care of FirstHealth’s Wound Care & Hyperbaric Center at Richmond Memorial is designed to monitor, manage and treat chronic non-healing wounds.

Dr. Gibbons earned his medical degree from the Oklahoma University College of Medicine in Oklahoma City and then completed a residency in emergency medicine at York Hospital in York, Pa.

Since 1998, he has been an emergency department physician with Sandhills Emergency Physicians, the specialty practice that provides services to all three emergency departments in the FirstHealth system – Montgomery Memorial in Troy and Moore Regional in Pinehurst as well as Richmond Memorial. From 2000 to 2003, he served as medical director for both the emergency department at Richmond Memorial and for FirstHealth Regional EMS-Richmond.

He is currently following up on his previous training in wound care in a program on the campus of The Ohio State University in Columbus. According to Dr. Gibbons, his goal as a wound care and hyperbaric physician is to focus on the wound while considering the patient’s complete medical history. “Wound care focuses on the specific wound, but we consider the patient’s overall medical condition as well,” he says. “Our focus has to be taken in the context of the patient and all of his/her medical issues.”